Kaixin Fights Back in Race With Renren to Market 人人、开心上市大PK：开心扳回一局

By newsdoug on April 27, 2011

Wrestling match continues between Kaixin and Renren In what’s shaping up as one of China’s most colorful races to market in a long time, social networking site Kaixin says it has won a coveted hearing with China’s highest court in its ongoing grievance with archrival Renren. (Chinese article) The move is an obvious ploy by Kaixin to derail Renren’s IPO plan, which took an early lead over Kaixin’s own similar plan when Renren made its first public IPO filing in New York earlier this month. (previous post) Kaixin’s ongoing spat with Renren is too complex to discuss here, but suffice it to say that a decision by the high court in Kaixin’s favor could raise some serious questions for Renren’s future prospects, less in terms of monetary damages (Kaixin is asking for a relatively modest 10 million yuan) but more in potential restrictions on a disputed Web address that is one of Renren’s two primary URLs. Until the high court makes its decision and provides some clarity, which could be relatively soon, I see no way that Renren can move forward with its IPO. In the meantime, I wouldn’t be surprised if Kaixin makes its own initial public filing for a New York IPO very soon, seeking to trump Renren’s own plans to raise up to $500 milliion.

Bottom line: The race to market between Kaixin and Renren is far from over, with Kaixin gaining the latest edge through a small victory in Chinese courts.

在中国最具看点的企业上市赛跑中，开心网、人人网你挣我夺，互有胜负。今日人人网称最高人民法院同意就“真假开心网”问题举行听证，此举显然是在破坏人人网IPO计划。此前人人网率先提交IPO申请，获得领跑优势。开心、人人恩怨过於复杂，这里就不再赘述。不过，最高法院的决定可能会对人人未来前景提出一些严肃问题，不在於金钱损失（开心网要求赔偿大约1,000万元人民币），主要是争议域名kaixin.com使用有可能会被限制。我认为，法院作出裁决前，人人网无法推进IPO计划。同时，开心网如迅速向纽约提交IPO申请，也不算意外。

一句话：人人、开心上市赛跑远未落幕；赛场看点不断，最新战报：开心通过法庭小胜利扳回一局。

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